Filing apparatus



Oct. 26, 1943. R. P. \SCHOLFIELD 2,332,606

FILING APPARATUS Original Filed April 1, 1941 Patented Oct. 26, 1943 pir' V rmi'No APPARATUS Richard P. Scholfield, New York, N: Y-'., assignorto Scholfield'Service, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Yorkfiriginalapplication April 1, 1941, Serial No.

386,326. Divided and this application 26, 1942, SerialNo. 456,252 r 7(Jlaims.

The present invention relates to filing apparatus of the'type wherein aplurality of cards are secured upon th periphery of a rotatable filingdrum, to facilitate access to'a great plurality of cards by an operator;The invention includes modifications of, improvements upon andadditionsto filing apparatus of the types shown in the prior patent to Scholfieldet al; No. 2,06,655, July '7, 1936 and in my application Serial No.75,883, filed April 22, 1936, now Patent No. 2,231,029. This applicationis a division of my application Serial No. 386,326 filed April 1, 1941,since matured into Patent No. 2,316,489 dated April 13, 1943.

An object of the presentinvention is to pro vide improved card retainingrail structures, adapted to perform certain'new and improved functions.

A further object of the invention is to provide improved card retainingmeans, whereby a plurality of cardsmay be removed simultaneously or enbloc from the periphery of the drum.

A further object of the invention is to provide improved jcard retainingrail shapes and cards having novelslots therein adapted to cooperatewith the rails, to secure the cards thereon in an improved manner. l

A further object of the invention is to provide a rotary filing drumwherein the cards may be placed upon the periphery of the drum andremoved therefrom by movementalong a'line indined with respect to thedrum axis, and held on the drum by meansengaging inclined slots in thecards and additional means engaging the ends of the cards, thelast-mentioned means being adapted normally to prevent such com binedinclined'movement of the cards, but being mounted formovement to aninoperative position, to permit removal of the cards by such inclined,combined axial and radial movement.

With filing drums of the type. shown in the aforementioned applications,the cards are placed upon the card retaining rails by flexing thematerial of the cards adjacent the keyhole-shaped slots therein, therebyeffectively but temporarily widening the opening at the narrow throatsof the slots and permitting them to move over the rail heads. For agreat many uses, drums-and cards of that type are entirely satisfactory,but, in some cases, it is desirable to remove, from a drum, arelativelygreat plurality of cards simul taneously, as a group. Thepresent invention provides a number of different constructions whereinthe cards may be readily removed from the drum periphery by combinedradial and axial movement.

A number of preferred embodiments of the invention areshownin'theaccompanying drawing, but it must be understood that theinvention is not limited to the specific details of construction Augustshown" herein and described below, as many modifications will readilyoccur to one skilled in the art, from a consideration of the disclosureof this specification.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is an enlarged sectional view through the rim and head of afiling drum in'accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a'similar view of a half section of the drum, showingamodified card and engaging member and,

Figure?) is a fragmentary sectional view of a further modification.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the filing drum comprises a rim I96 carriedby circular shoulders formed integrally upon heads H6 and H6. The cardsmay be removed en bloc from the card retaining rails by movement onlines inclined with respect to the drum axis. The card retaining railshave surfaces inclined outwardly toward one end of the drum, and thecards have similarly shaped openings, so that they may be removedtherefrom or mounted thereon by combined axial and radial movement.

In Figure 1 the rim E63 is provided with a pair of outwardly projectingcircumferentially continuous ribs or rails till, each of which isinclined toward the end it? of the drum. The side faces I63, 104 of theribs are on parallel lines, in section. Actually these faces are onconcentric frusto-conica1 surfaces. 1 i I The cards have openings llliiadjacent their inner ends, the margins of the openings being substantially parallel with the adjacent margins of the ribs, except thatthe margin I66 is cut back somewhat to permit the cards to be swungrear- Wardly or forwardly foraccess to the material thereon. When in theinclined position, thear cuate edgeill! of eachopening rests upon andmakes line contact with the outer end of the associated rib.

At one end, the drum head may be provided with a circumierentiallycontinuous outwardly projecting flange Hi8, while at th other end, thehead m2 is cut awayat one or more sections, where a radially movable endmember or gate l is mounted. This member is urged outwardly by springmeans H6 into position to engage the end edges ill of the cards, thespring being seated upon an appropriate ledg H2 associated with,

the drum head W2. If desired, the outer edge portion of the head I62 maybe dispensed withv drum head is simply pressed radially or shiftedaxially inwardly, so as to be disposed out of line with the cards andout of contact with the end edges lll thereof. Thereupon, the cards maybe withdrawn by combined axial and radial movement, on an inclined path,as indicated by the arrows in Figure 1.

The construction shown in Figure 2 difiers from that just described onlyin that the continuous annular flange I i5 is secured to the drum headM6 by springs ll'l, mounted on the ends of the tie-bolts I I8, whichsecure the drum heads H6, H9 together. Thus, the card retaining flangeH5 may be swung outwardly or depressed radially to the dotted lineposition in Figure 2, to clear the ends of the cards, at any pointaround the circumference of the drum, to permit cards to be inserted orwithdrawn at will. This mounting is somewhat simpler than that shown inFigure 1. However, if the member I99 is in the form of a continuousring, the cards at any position on the drum may be readily removed, ornew card added, in both constructions.

In Figure 3, the cards may be removed by swinging outwardly a hinged,arcuate' gate I which is normally held in the operative card retainingposition by a sprin 826. The end wall l2? adjacent the gate is providedwith an inclined surface I28, so that the cards may clear the memberwhen the gat is swung to the open position. Any desired number of suchpivoted, arcuate gates may be provided as a substitute for one or moreof the sliding gates shown in Figure l. The operation of the apparatusof the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the artfrom a consideration of the foregoing description. Cards en bloc may beapplied to or removed from the rims by a combined endwise and radialmovement, when the card retaining end member has been moved to aninoperative position.

Although the invention has been described with considerableparticularity by reference to the specific embodiments shownin theaccompanying drawing, it must be understoodthat it is not limited to thedetail described above and shown in the accompanying drawing, but coversall modifications coming within the scope of the appended claims andtheir equivalents.

I claim: l. A filing drum comprising a cylindrical rim, a substantiallycontinuous, non-headed card retaining rail associated therewith having aside face projecting outwardly ininclined relation toward one end of therim, whereby cards having slots similar in shape to the rail may beremoved therefrom by combined radial and axial movement toward that endof the rim, and outwardly projecting means adjacent said end of the rim,

positioned to engage the ends of the cards and to prevent such movementthereof, at least a portion of said means being movable to permit suchmovement and removal of cards en bloc.

, 2. A filing drum comprising a cylindrical rim, 2. pair of parallel,substantially continuous, nonheaded card retaining rails associatedtherewith, each having a side face projecting outwardly in inclinedrelation toward one end of the rim, whereby cards having pairs of slotssimilar in shape to the rails may be removed therefrom by combinedradial and axial movement, and an outwardly projecting member adjacentsaid end of the rim and positioned to engage the ends of the cards andprevent such movement,

least a portion of the end member being movable to permit such movementand removal of cards en bloc.

3. A filing drum comprising a cylindrical rim,

a substantially continuous card retaining rail having parallel sidefaces projecting from the rim in inclined relation toward one end of thedrum, whereby cards having slots therein may be removed from the rail bycombined radial and axial movement toward that end of the drum, and anoutwardly projecting end member posi tioned to engage the ends of thecards and prevent such axial movement, at least a portion of the endmember being displaceable out of the path of movement of the cards,whereby a plu- I rality of cards may-be removed en bloc by suchmovement.

4. A filing drum comprising a substantially cylindrical rim, asubstantially continuous card retaining rail associated therewith andprojecting outwardly therefrom in inclined relation, whereby cardshaving inclined slots adjacent their lower edges may be placed on andremoved from the drum by combined axialv and radial movement on aninclined path, and abutment means atone end of the drum adapted toprevent such axial movement of the cards, said abutment means beingmovably mountedior displacement to an inoperative position, to permil;removal of a plurality'of cards by such movement.

5. A filing drum comprising .a substantially cylindrical rim, asubstantially continuous card retaining rail associated therewith andprojecting outwardly therefrom in inclinedirelation, whereby cardshaving inclined slots adjacent their lower edges may be placed'on andremoved from the drum by combined axial and radial movement on aninclined path, abutmentn'i'eans at one end of the drum adaptedto preventsuch axial movement of the cards, said abutment means comprising aradially movable section, spring means urging the same outwardly .intocard-end abutting position, an means whereby the section may be forcedinwardly 'to permit removal of cards from the drum by said bined axialand radial movement.

6. A filing drum comprising a substantially cylindrical rim, asubstantially continuous card retaining rail associated therewith andprojecting outwardly therefromin inclined relation,

whereby cards having inclined slotsuadj'acent their lower edges may beplaced on and removed from the drum by combined axial, and radialmovement on an inclined path, andv abutment means at one end of thedrum, adapted'to prevent such axial movement of the cards, said abutmentmeans including a hinged section, whereby the same may be swung to aninoperative'position to permit the removal of cards by such.

combined axial and radial movement.

7. A filing drum comprising asubstantially. cylindrical rim, asubstantially continuous card retaining rail associated therewith andprojecting outwardly therefrom in. inclined relation, whereby cardshaving inclined slots adjacent their lower edges may be placed on andremoved from the drum by combined axial and radial movement on aninclined path, and abutment means at one end of the drum, adapted toprevent such axial movement of thecards, said abutment means comprisingan annular flange and spring means connecting the flange to the drum,

whereby the flange may be moved to aninopera-v tive position, to permitremoval of cards by ccm-l bined axial and radial movement. I

RICHARD P. SCI-IOLFIELD.

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